Linda Douglass is the Communications Director the the Office of Health Reform. She intends to prove that you can keep your own insurance when the Health Care bill is passed.

Douglass says that there are many misleading headlines out there – this is true. However, I have to wonder if she bothered to look at what she pointed to before claiming that “nothing could be farther from the truth”?

This is the video, which pieces together pieces of speeches and interviews, mainly Obama’s.

Odd – those are real interviews and speeches. And those are their words. But Douglass claims that what is said in the video is not true.

Instead of attempting to reveal whatever the truth is, Douglass tries to place blame on the opposition to the Health Care Bill, saying that “the people who always try to scare people whenever you try to bring them health insurance reform are at it again.”

I wonder who those “people who always try to scare people” are….

She then goes on to say that said people are just taking everything out of context to leave a false impression. I don’t know about you, but the above video was quite clear to me, despite it being pieced together.

Then she says “The truth is that the President has been talking to the American people…,” which Douglass says right after she points out a video that clearly shows the same President lying to the American people.

And this is supposed to make the people trust her and President Obama…how exactly?

All right, so Douglass and President Obama both appear to have trouble with telling the truth thus far. Now let’s continue to the video clips Douglass claims “they” won’t show you.

Who the heck are “they”? I’ve seen those clips. No one was specifically not showing them to me.

And the two video clips are Douglass’ “proof” that the government Health Care Bill won’t mess with private insurance. Seeing as earlier in the video we see that the President has lied, these videos are not very convincing.

Now, I’m going to go on a quick tangent. The idea behind the Health Care Bill is not really all bad. It’s the bill itself that is the problem. If the government wants to put out another health care plan similar to the ones that are on the market to compete just like the other insurers compete, good for them. But if they do that, it should not involve a bill – and especially not one like the proposed bill.

Back to the video. At the end, Douglass says, “So, it’s very important for you to have the facts.” The problem? She did not provide any facts. She should have been pointing out sections and provisions in the bill to prove that what President Obama says is true, not using what Obama says to prove what the bill says.

It is a shame that WhiteHouse.gov was unable to provide actual reasons for not believing the “rumors” about the Health Care Bill. President Obama’s words are not proof to me.

WhiteHouse.gov has posted a series of videos about the Health Care Bill labeled as “Reality Check,” supposedly debunking the concerns of the American people.

In the above video, Kavita Patel, a physician who works with a Senior Advisor to President Obama, “proves” that the new health care plan will not cause the rationing of health care. Apparently, the fact that she works for Obama and that she is a physician is enough “trust her.”

Patel begins by reading two emails. The first states that the sender does not believe that the government should run health care because the cost is simply too high and that it would be a “bureaucratic nightmare for patients.” Patel does not address either of these two major issues and goes on to read a second email, which asks, “How are you going to insure that rationing of services does not occur?”

Patel never answers this question.

Instead, she states that rationing is already happening. She says that health insurance companies are discussing, right now, what services you can and cannot have.

This is an outright lie, and everyone should know it.

Health insurance companies do not control what services you can receive – they only control what, and how much, they will pay for it based on a pre-existing contract.

For example, if you go to the emergency room with symptoms of a heart attack, you will get the tests, treatments, and even surgeries you need, sometimes all before the health insurance company even knows that you’ve had a heart attack. (In Canada or the UK, you’re still waiting for the serious medical treatment you need to save your life.) The health insurance company looks at their contract with you and pays the hospital a certain amount, depending on what the contract covers. This is, in no way, “rationing health care.”

Another example – you want cosmetic surgery just because you hate the look of your nose. You ask your health insurance company to pay for it, and they refuse because cosmetic surgery does not fit under the contract you have with them. You are not being denied the surgery – you just have to pay out-of-pocket.

There is no rationing or denying of care in either of these instances. So Patel’s side-step from the real question is a complete lie. That does not do much for my trust in her.

Patel then moves on to talk about the “rumor” that the government is going to take over health care. Her “proof” that this is not true is that “President Obama has said time and time again that if you like your insurance, if you like the kind of health care that you have right now, and the plan you have, you can keep it.”

Okay…first off, a quote from the President who is continually caught lying (most recently about AARP supporting the health care bill) is far from proof, or even evidence, that the government is not taking over health care.

All right, if you have health insurance that you like, you can keep it – right? Obama said so, it must be true. Or maybe false.

If your employer changes to the government plan because it’s cheaper (which it will be, especially since we’re all paying for it anyway), you can’t keep your insurance. Oh, and neither can your children after a certain age anyway. Oh, and according the the House of Representatives version of the Health Care bill, there is a “Limitation on New Enrollment” on page 16 that states:

“the individual health insurance issuer offering such coverage does not enroll any individual in such coverage if the first effective date of coverage is on or after the first
day of Y1.”

And this garble translates into:

“the insurance providers outside the government that offer health care insurance cannot enroll any person in such coverage if the first date that the person would be covered is after the date this bill is signed and goes into effect.”